Former Heavyweight Boxing Champion Found Dead

Former world heavyweight boxing champion Trevor Berbick has been killed in Jamaica.

Berbick, 52, suffered a gaping head wound in the attack in a church courtyard in his native Norwich village, 145 miles east of Kingston, and was pronounced dead at the Port Antonio Hospital, police said. They said the assailant was carrying a weapon such as a machete or hatchet that cut a deep 'chop wound'.

Friends said they had seen Berbick at a party Friday night but police said they had few other details on his death.

He was the last boxer to beat the legendary Muhammad Ali in 1981 in Nassau in the Bahamas and held the world heavyweight title briefly in 1986 before losing it to Mike Tyson, blown away in two rounds thereby making Tyson the youngest heavyweight champion of all time.

Berbick represented Jamaica at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal and settled in Canada for years. He turned professional the following year and won the World Boxing Council heavyweight title in 1986, when he defeated American Pinklon Thomas. He had a decent technique and solid punch, as well as a sound chin - all the ingredients a champion needs - but when he beat Ali it was one of boxing's saddest nights. Ali was ill advised to take the bout, having already lost to Larry Holmes the previous year, while descending into the early stages of Parkinson's Syndrome.

When Berbick came up against Tyson, the terrifying young man from Brownsville was near unbeatable. The punch Tyson knocked out Berbick with lives in the memory for the staggering effect it had on his opponent. It crashed into his temple, sent him zombie-like to the canvas, and when he tried to rise, his eyes rolled and his legs gave way beneath him.

Berbick's last bout was in 2000 against Canadian journeyman Shane Sutcliffe which he won the fight via 12-Round Unanimous decision. After the bout, a CAT scan revealed a blood clot in his brain and as a result he had his license to box revoked.

Like many fighters, even former world champions, Berbick would not retire when he was long past his best.

He retired to Florida to be with his wife and 3 children (he also has 3 children with his first wife in Montreal) and train boxers as a profession.

Berbick returned to Jamaica in 2003 after being deported from the United States for the second time. He had several run-ins with the law, including serving 15 months of a five-year prison sentence for sexually assaulting the family babysitter in 1992.

Jamaica has been fighting a surge in murders and crime that threatens the Caribbean island's crucial tourist trade and is believed to be drug-related.